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Saturday, November 21, 2015

Saturday Pages: ALL THE SAMPLERS!!

Hello there guys!!

Yesterday I absolutely enjoyed my first opera experience, getting goosebumps and nearly crying at the end, Madama Butterfly was fantastic! Now the besties and me are planning to go see Rigoletto next when the company plays it in Feb/March!

Today for this week's Saturday Pages I have mini reviews for all the samplers that I recently got from Netgalley! I know a lot of you guys don't like samplers but I seem to have zero self control when it comes to books I want, and also samplers are very useful when I'm curious about a book by a new author, or for a book that I should be more excited about since it's an author I love...

This one was simply lack of self control... AGOS is one of my top 3 most awaited sequels for 2016 and the moment I saw this sampler available on NetGalley I knew I had to read it.

It's quite a big sampler, and I'm already itching to re-read it, so I won't have a problem with re-reading the beginning once the book comes out!

Although I was 100% before now I'm 1000% sure that I'll absolutely love this book!! Our beloved Lila Bard is being her badass self, and even more badass that ever before! I just had to adore her & her restlessness and her wish & fear to belong and settle down.

We see that change has come to Red London, Grey London and White London, and whatever we thought we knew about the Antari is being challenged very early on! Or maybe I'm just reading too much into certain details... Who knows!

We meet a few new characters, although we barely get to know them, although Alucard gets a bit of more page time, and he promises to be a very interesting character indeed! There seems to be a certain history that will come into play later on, and I cannot wait to find out more!

Really guys, if you haven't read ADSOM, go read it now and if you have... go preorder AGOS NOW! If you already have it preordered, as I do... rest assured, we're gonna love this one to pieces, I KNOW IT!!

Jessica Khoury has a few books out already but for some reason I haven't read anything by her yet, so when I saw the sampler for this one (fantasy! Aladdin retelling!) I decided to check it out and see if it could be my kinda thing.

And as it happens, it is! I really enjoyed both the descriptions and the writing and loved how it starts and feels familiar (if you've watched the movie) but also how different it is, and not only because the genie, jinn in this case (let's be proper) is a girl, but also because of how much history is behind the current story. How much regret and guilt the jinni carries with her.

We meet quite a few characters that could be familiar but that are also complete different and with a very different history and development, from Aladdin himself, to the princess, to the Jinni... And I cannot wait to see more of these characters, and of course to get more of the world building and of the history snippets that Zahra gives us here and there.

The sampler gave us only a small peek at the plotting that might come into play in the book, from Zahra's mission to gain her freedom to Aladdin's quest to do something important, and where both might clash at some point and what choices will Zahra make this time!

This sampler convinced me that I want to check this book, so much that I ended preordering it!

This is sampler that I requested because this is a book that by all usual standards I ought to be super excited about! It's by Veronica Rossi and I adored her Under The Never Sky series, and the book is a reimagining about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, so really... it sounds like it'd be a Pili book! But for some strange reason I'm not that excited about it.

Reading the sampler I was a bit thrown off by how it starts in the middle of the action so to speak, and how our main character spends his time tied to a chair telling someone from the US government (and us of course) all that's been going on till that moment.

I don't usually mind that style of storytelling, but I'm not sure how I'd like if the whole book is gonna be told like that till the final part or something... At least all of the sampler is Gideon recounting what has happened. And although I want to find out more and meet the rest of the Horsemen and know what the hell happened to land Gideon in military custody... it feels like there's a lack of urgency since it's a recount of the past.

After reading this sampler I'm still unsure of this one, and will be awaiting reviews from my bloggy friends that got ARCs before deciding whether I get this one or pass it up.

I would usually agree with you, but the sampler answered a few burning questions and ended at a place that wasn't a cliffhangery place, so despite wanting to read the full book like mad, this worked as a way to tide me till release day!!

Hi friend! I love that you did this! I know a lot of people won't read them...but i LOVE samplers! Especially for those super hyped books that aren't that good (cough...riders...cough) Anyhow I'm glad you've read these. I am pretty excited about The Forbidden Wish just not the cover change. also I was NOT impressed with Riders. I don't know how far the sampler goes but basically what you see is what you get. It is just a bunch of trying tro find horsemen with not much else to hep aid the plot. Anyway onto better things.... AGOS!! I literally fell over when I saw this. I am in love love love with this series and KNOW this books is going to be magnific! And yay for Operas. Ive never been but im glad you had a great time. Love ya hope you have a great weekend!<3 Britt

Roomie!! *hugs* Samplers are usually a lot of help for me on deciding about books I'm on the fence about without commiting to the whole book!I have to agree the cover change for The Forbidden Wish sucks a bit, that's why I got me the Kindle version of the book.Riders is shaping up to be a book that I won't get after all, even more after what you've just told me... what a bummer! =/

If you have a chance to go to the opera, do give it a try, it's a fantastic experience!!

Yeah. I didn't like Riders at all. I'm so heartbroken about it. Ugh. It was just.. bad. And most of the book is about him telling the past. All the way until the ending. Ugh. It happened just a few weeks before, but still. It was so annoying, because I didn't like the writing at all :( Sobs. I'm sorry you didn't seem to like it so far :\ But YAY for AGOS :D I am DYING for this book, as you know. <3 So so happy that you loved the sampler :) And yay for liking the sampler for The Forbidden Wish too :D I cannot wait to read that one as well. <3 Stunning reviews Pili :) Thank you for sharing sweet girl.

Hm, I'm very curious about Rossi, I actually adore being thrown in medias res so that should work really well for me. As for Schwab, I am beyond excited about the book, but I'd rather stay away from the sampler and experience it all at once if I can manage it, which will be hard.

I don't mind being thrown into a book halfway through the action, but seems like all of the sampler was about recounting what had happened, and I'm not sure if I'll like if most of the book would be told like that... we'll see! I'd love to see your review for it Maja!

Whew, lots of samplers! I refuse to read samplers (you know my thoughts on them LOL), but I am dying to read all three of these. Thanks to Tor I have two of them... would love The Forbidden Wish to be put on NetGalley in full! *eyes Penguin* I've seen so-so thoughts on Riders but I am excited to read it still!